Cloud is no longer an idea we just talk about, it is a necessity for most companies. Now the conversation we need to have is not whether you need cloud solutions or not, but instead whether you have optimized your cloud usage or if you are doing it inefficiently. When it comes to the cloud people have the wrong idea about things.

Some people think of it as just being a server someone else operates. This is the wrong way to look at cloud because cloud is much more than just a server or a processor. Cloud solutions can be optimized beyond on-site solutions and can enhance the productivity of an organization by a large margin. If you want to ensure that your cloud usage is productive and efficient you will have to take some steps. Cloud is still in its starting stages so this stuff isn’t common knowledge but these are policies which companies will be adopting as we understand cloud better as time goes on.

Do you have the right type of cloud storage?

When you are building an on-site server the options are quite limited. Most small to medium enterprises cannot really buy high end specialized equipment and they end up getting plain storage. With cloud you have more options to enhance your storage productivity. Do you know that there are different type of cloud storage and processing services available depending on the type of usage you have?

For instance, if you deal with media heavily there are cloud services that specialize in holding large files. These services optimize the storage for capacity instead of accessing speed. On the other hand if you are using cloud storage and processing to save and store records, you want the opposite. Records take very low space but you need instant access to them to keep your work running efficiently and the cloud storage available for such cases provides blazing fast read and write speeds but has a bit lower storage. You need to decide what’s better for your organization depending on what you are using the cloud for.

Analyze your usage

You can’t improve something if you don’t know enough about it. You need proper cloud analytic tools that monitor the usage of cloud services by your organization. This gives you an idea about the efficiency level of your service and also provides insight about what facet of cloud storage you need to increase spending on and where you can lower spending. Once you start getting an accurate picture of the type of cloud usage that happens in your company you’ll be able to optimize your cloud solutions better.

A common way to lose efficiency is to not understand the true cloud needs of your organizations. For example, your system might be bottle necking on a single process simply because enough resources aren’t available. You can only find out about bottlenecks like these if you are actively analyzing how your cloud services are being used and how they are performing. Usage analysis also allows you to take advantage of another cloud feature; flexibility. You can easily increase your cloud storage and processing power temporarily if you are going to have a surge in demand, but you will only be aware or surges if you’re analyzing usage. You don’t have to worry about the costs of the analysis tools, most service providers have tools available for customers already and you’ll just need to acquaint yourself with them.

Govern your cloud usage

Cloud isn’t a single item which you can give everyone the key to. This is one of the biggest mistakes made by SMBs and medium sized enterprises. People purchase cloud solutions and give access to anyone who needs to use cloud services. If you want to make your system more efficient you need to have proper governance in place. Specific cloud services should only be available to the people who need to use those services and no one else. Your storage needs to be compartmentalized as well, giving access of different parts to different roles in your organization.

Many small and medium enterprises skip governance because it is boring and it takes time to setup. Do not skip governance; you might end up creating a problem you’ll only be aware of when it becomes too big to fix. If you set proper governance rules right from the start you will be able to expand your cloud solutions in the right direction while always getting a great return on investment from them. If you are looking for a cloud management tool that offers easy setup for cloud monitoring and policy governance, then try this tool which is handy and powerful.